An insight into how the North Sea decommissioning market will take shape over the next nine years was one of two key guides launched on Tuesday, 28 November at a major decommissioning conference organised by Oil & Gas UK and Decom North Sea.

A digital transformation of oil and gas safety-critical emergency response training is set to save the industry more than a million hours of training time per year, driving time and cost efficiencies across the sector, a gathering of world-wide industry leaders heard recently.

One of the UK’s leading providers of technical consulting and engineering services – MMI Engineering (MMI) – says it has successfully supported a globally recognised energy and services company on a project that has scooped an award at the Offshore Safety Awards hosted by Oil & Gas UK.

Parker Hannifin, al leader in motion and control technologies, reports it now has a complete range of valves that conform to the API 6A specification for Christmas tree and wellhead applications in the oil and gas sector.

HIMA, a leading independent provider of technologies for safety-critical applications, reports it is exhibiting for the first time at Offshore Europe, Aberdeen, UK, on 5 – 8 September 2017 and says this also marks its first process industry focused exhibition appearance since HIMA gave direct access to its solutions and services in the UK and Ireland this June.

Craig International reports it has signed a five-year procurement contract for all Premier Oil’s maintenance and repair operations in the UK North Sea. The contract, which could be worth up to £5 million, will see Craig International’s UK office work alongside its global network on all aspects of the procurement process – from sourcing to logistics – to ensure the most cost-effective service possible.

Enhanced qualification testing of industrial technologies in simulated environmental conditions will be provided following investment by a North East engineering company in new test equipment designed to boost services and capabilities.

Specialist oil and gas & marine services firm OEM Group reports it has welcomed Mike Macleod on board as its new finance director as part of the company’s growth strategy which aims to see its turnover increase by 25% to £3 million in the next 12 months.

Saab Seaeye says the most successful underwater robotic vehicle of its class in the world, the Saab Seaeye Falcon, is on permanent display at the Offshore Experience Exhibition in Rotterdam. The exhibition is said to be the first in Europe to offer an insight into the current state-of-art technology used in the oil, gas and wind energy sectors at sea, and provides a setting for innovative courses, research and education.

Flow-Technology, a UK based engineering facility in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, says it is once again showcasing its product range at Southern Manufacturing 2017, stand number Q61, and says for over 30 years it has supplied various types of stainless steel and high nickel alloy components to the oil and gas, power (nuclear and renewables) chemical, pharmaceutical, cryogenic and food industries.

Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), a premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, has reported a new open interest record of 40,505 lots for its flagship Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract following January trading 2017 activity. Equivalent to 40.5 million barrels of Omani crude oil, the latest figure is said to surpass the previous open interest record of 31,492 lots set on January 27, 2016.

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions says for the first time, test certification for almost 30 of its best-in-class materials for the oil and gas market has been made available online, enforcing the company’s commitment to quality and safety credentials.

A rising number of UK operator companies are said to be demonstrating their commitment to working smarter by signing up to two initiatives designed to reduce the legal and commercial complexity of offshore operations. As a result of collaboration between UK operators, supported by Oil & Gas UK and the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), increasing take up of new Standard Study Agreement and an updated Commercial Code of Practice should help the sector’s drive to improve the efficiency of businesses across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

The oil and gas industry has ‘cleared the first hurdle’ in its drive for better collaboration but there is still more work to be done, according to a new survey by Oil & Gas UK and Deloitte. The ‘UKCS upstream supply chain collaboration survey’ asked British and Dutch operators and suppliers about their experiences working alongside other companies operating in the North Sea.

State-of-the-art ultrafiltration technology which is said to cut costs, minimise space and reduce chemical use was recently showcased by oil and gas company Fjords Processing at a major industry conference. The company says its compact and innovative multi-element vessel (MEV) design successfully completed qualification testing in Australia this year.

As part of HTL Group’s continued growth, HTL Group Scotland has announced the appointment of a new business manager, Marc Gerrard and says Marc joins HTL with a very strong 22 years’ background in rentals, sales, maintenance and management within the oil and gas arena.

Monitoring tubing and casing pressures from wellheads can help operators optimise well production while gaining a better understanding of long-term performance. Feedback can also provide valuable information about well safety. Wellkeeper Inc, a pioneer of reliable and affordable remote monitoring solutions for independent oil and gas operators, has announced it is specifying the SignalFire Remote Sensing System in its remote monitoring solutions for tracking tubing and casing pressures in the oil field.

A new report forecasts a gradual but steady rise in offshore oil and gas decommissioning in the UK and Norway over the next ten years, with activity growing from a market worth over £2 billion in 2015.

Frontera Resources Corporation, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, has announced that its fully owned subsidiary Frontera Resources International has been chosen as winner of the bidding for exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Republic of Moldova.

Oil and gas work environments are inherently dangerous ones, especially when working at height is involved. Raphaël Dubois, fall protection manager at Honeywell Industrial Safety EMEA, looks at the main risks for oil and gas workers and the keys to accident prevention.

Following the launch of DNV GL’s service specification for Functional Safety Certification, which can be applied to all electronic or programmable systems with safety functions, the company has announced it has issued its first Functional Safety Certificate against DNVGL-SE-0141 to Rockwell Automation.

IHS Energy Strategic Report by Daniel Yergin and Elena Pravettoni. A new IHS Energy report disputes concerns by some central banks and regulators that climate change may pose “systemic risk” to the financial system.

Sulzer says its commitment to the oil and gas industry on the west coast of Australia has been boosted by significant investment in state-of-the-art equipment featuring progressive service capabilities in Australia.

An oil and gas wellstream processing company with a reputation for technological innovation reports it has launched the first phase of a global ‘augmented reality’ campaign and says it will deliver marketing, information and instructional benefits to the staff and customers of Fjords Processing.

In the marine, oil and gas sectors, components have to withstand harsh conditions and have to work effectively to reduce downtime and save costs. One aspect which can help to ensure this, is the use of the right lubricant. Klüber Lubrication says its speciality lubricants help to maximise the output of equipment and critical assets whether floating or fixed.

SPE Intelligent Energy 2016 (IE16) took place in Aberdeen (6 to 8 September 2016) with a call to action by investors to avoid ‘bad’ capex cuts, improve transparency and create real value through innovation.

Gielle reports it has been a leader in fire fighting for 50 years and has announced its new installation on the base of Novec1230 fluid fire fighting system for extinguishing fires in engine rooms, pump rooms, transformer rooms and electrical rooms, for ship and offshore applications. The company says the Gielle fire fighting system can replace, without significant modifications, old systems using Halon, Halotron IIB, carbon dioxide and water mist on board ships.